Amelia
by Pottalova
Summary: Years after 'the Family Hour', Lois and Clark are still hard-hitting investigative reporters, but there is no child to be found. What happened to the baby? And who is Amelia?
1. Chapter 1

Lois Lane was not the type of woman with regrets. Every day, she went to work and put everything she was into her job. Oftentimes, she jeopardized her life for a story, usually only to be saved within seconds of death by her amazing husband, Superman. No, Lois Lane did not have many real regrets in her life, but she did have one that was more than enough for one lifetime.

* * *

Amelia woke with a start one crisp, October morning, realizing that, once again, she was running late for school. Faster than a speeding bullet, she brushed her teeth, straightened her hair, put on the first pair of matching clothes she found in her closet, and applied her makeup.

As she sprinted past her mother, the middle aged-woman chuckled, "Late for school again?" Amelia just glared at her mother and pulled a piece of toast off her plate, then ran out the door. Just before she was out of earshot, her mother called, "Don't forget about ballet today after school." Amelia merely waved behind her in acknowledgement, walking as fast as she could without embarrassing herself.

"Morning, Amelia," The one of the attendance ladies smirked at her. "What was it this time, did you discover million-year-old dinosaur bones under your back porch this morning?"

"Oh, Mrs. Hudson, you know I don't have a back porch. We had to tear it off after the whole giant spider fiasco." Amelia shook her head laughingly with the women around her. "Today, though, as I tried to pour my cereal down the garbage disposal, I realized that one of the pipes was clogged. Obviously, I couldn't leave a sink full of food and milk sitting in my kitchen all day, so I took a wrench out of my dad's tool belt and disconnected one of the pipes. Luckily, I picked the right one right off the bat or there's no way I would have even made it to school at all."

"Oh, well thank goodness for that!" One of the other women chirped in from the back of the room.

"You're telling me!" Amelia exclaimed, "So, anyway, I pull out the pipe and reach my fingers up as far as they can reach, and I could feel something hard and sharp poking my fingers. Intrigued, I grabbed a wire and jimmied it up the pipe until I could feel it hook around the object. As hard as I could, I wrenched the wire out and you'll never guess what fell into the palm of my hand."

"A wasps' nest?"

"A diamond necklace?"

"The keys to a brand new Mercedes from the president himself." The young woman smiled as she boldly finished her story. "He wanted to personally thank me for my undercover work in the Irish Mafia, but, of course, I couldn't accept, so I had to personally deliver the generous gift to one of his most trusted agents, who just happens to live nearby." The attendance ladies erupted in applause as Amelia bowed gratefully. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here 'till June."

"Nicely done, Amelia." Mrs. Hudson nodded, handing her a pass, "Have you ever thought of going into a career in writing?"

Amelia shrugged, "Eh, I guess it just depends on what I'm in the mood for. And that, of course, is if my career as a movie star doesn't work out."

Grinning ear to ear, Mrs. Hudson handed her an envelope before she made it out the door. "Just do me a favor and give this a shot. Please."

"Oh," Amelia sighed dramatically, "If I must!"

* * *

"Cameron, I want those medical records of Mr. Solomon on my desk by the time I get back."

"Yes, Ms. Lane, I'll get right on that." A nerdy young man replied, picking up papers as he dropped them on the floor.

"Lois! Where's that article on the bank robberies?" The editor-in-chief called across the newsroom.

"Clark out researching a lead now, Jimmy," Lois reported, taking her coat and a brief case as on her way towards the elevator, "We'll have it on your desk in time for the morning edition."

"Good." Jimmy called back as the elevator doors shut behind her, then turned to the nerdy young assistant, "Baldwin, get me some coffee, and tell Melinda Abbott in Entertainment to meet me in my office in a half and hour."

"Yes, Mr. Olsen, I'll be right in sir." Cameron darted across the room nervously in response.

"And don't be so jumpy!" Jimmy complained under his breath as he watched the young man shakily pour his coffee on the other side of the room.

* * *

"I would put down those bags if I were you," Superman advised a few bank robbers in a confidant, deep voice.

"Oh, yeah, old man?" One of them challenged him, "What're ya gonna do about it?"

"Well," Superman strode powerfully over towards the young men and put his hands on their collars, as if about to lift them off the ground, "I may be old, but I'm still—" Superman paused, unable to lift the robbers, "I'm still—" He tried again, but still was to weak to carry even their meager weight. Suddenly, one of the young men punched Superman across the face and he fell to the ground and began nursing a bloody lip.

Satisfied, the young men took the bags and walked over the defeated Superman to get to the door, kicking him on the way out. When Superman finally was able to muster up his strength to get up and walk out, he was stormed by reporters. Stumbling, he took a few steps back, then took one great leap and was in the air.

* * *

"Clark," Lois said when she heard him fly in through the front window, not taking her eyes off her computer, "Good news. Cameron gave me the criminal records on Gregory Solomon and it turns out he served two years in Green Hills. But get this, while he was in prison, he was cell mates with James Cherney." For a second, Lois was silent as she waited for Clark to respond. "You know, the guy who was arrested a couple years ago for drug trafficking and selling kryptonite on the black market." Again, Clark was silent. "Clark?"

Lois tore herself away from the computer to check on her husband in the living room, where she heard him land. "Oh, Clark!" She exclaimed, rushing to his side when she saw his bloody, bruised body lying pathetically on their cold, wood floors.


	2. Chapter 2

"What happened?" Lois questioned her husband, concerned.

"I don't know." Clark replied weakly, shaking his head. "One minute, I was stopping a bank robbery, the next, my powers were gone and they were beating me up." Slowly, Clark got up and his body began to heal itself.

"Here, let me get you a wet washcloth." Lois offered, rushing into the bathroom and emerging a few moments later with the washcloth she had promised. When she reached Clark, she held it between her thumb and her index finger to her side as he heated it with his heat-vision. Suddenly, she dropped it, "Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry, honey!" Clark explained, getting up to make sure she was alright.

"No!" Lois ordered, putting her hand on his chest to press him back down onto the sofa. Delicately, she picked up the steaming piece of fabric and pressed it lightly to her husband's quickly healing lip, kissing him tenderly on the forehead. Lovingly, Lois stroked Clark's hair back as she thought loud, "Do you think you could be sick."

"I hope not," Clark groaned back, "One sneeze and I could wipe out a city block."

"Well, what else could it be?" She said quietly, deep in thought. "Kryptonite?"

"It didn't feel like Kryptonite," Clark recalled, "It just felt like I was… normal. Like I didn't have any powers or anything."

"Maybe we should go see Doctor Kline." Lois suggested.

"Lois…" He complained.

"Oh, Clark, it's not as if he's got any other patients." She tried to reason with him, "Besides, you haven't been to see him in months."

"Alright," Clark dragged his feet a few steps to give his wife a quick kiss goodbye, then zoomed off to see Dr. Kline.

* * *

"And who can tell me one thing about the Columbian Exchange from what you learned in the reading last night?" Amelia's teacher asked, looking around the room for volunteers.

Though the rest of the class was silent, Amelia's hand shot into the air. "Chocolate went to Europe."

"Very good, along with…" The older teacher scanned the room, searching for his next victim, but Amelia ignored him, knowing he wouldn't call on her unexpectedly for the rest of the period since she had volunteered.

Curiously, she opened the envelope Mrs. Hudson had handed her earlier that morning, which turned out to be an application for an internship at the Daily Planet. Rolling her eyes at another attempt of the attendance ladies to get her into writing, she discarded the application in her bag and began working on her math homework.

* * *

"Well, I don't know, Superman," Dr. Kline shrugged, looking over his lab results. "You seem to be just fine. Super strength, super speed, flight, super hearing, super…"

"I understand, doctor," Superman cut him off, "What do you think it was then, if I'm not sick?"

"I'm really not sure." Dr. Kline seemed puzzled, "You're positive there wasn't any kryptonite in the vicinity?"

"I would have felt it." He explained, "I felt perfectly fine, then all of a sudden, my powers weren't working."

"I suppose it could be old age, but according to my analysis of your molecular structure…" Superman cut him off with a stern look, so Dr. Kline tried to continue in a way he could understand. "As far as I can tell, you're aging extremely slowly, so even though you should be a forty five year old man, you're body is more like, say, a thirty-year-olds." Suddenly, Superman's ears perked up as he heard another bank alarm go off.

"What is it?" Dr. Kline questioned, seeing the look on his face.

"A bank alarm just went off on the other side of town." Superman said seriously, "Do you think I'll be able to take care of whoever's robbing all these banks this time?"

"As far as I can tell, just…" Dr. Kline began, but Superman flew off before he could finish, so he just mumbled to himself, "…watch out for kryptonite."

* * *

"You again!" Superman exclaimed, face to face with the robbers who had gotten the better of him not long before.

"Come back for more, Sup?" One of them asked mockingly.

"You may have gotten the better of me last time, but it's not going to happen again." Superman told them courageously.

"Oh, is that right?" The other replied snottily.

Smirking, Superman walked up securely and tried to rip the bags out of their hands, but he couldn't. The smaller, seemingly weaker of the two kicked him in the chin and elbowed him in the cheek, knocking Superman to the ground. For a minute, the two young men beat him until, finally, they heard sirens and fled the scene.

* * *

"Cameron!" Jimmy Olsen called from the doorway of his office, "I want you covering the Superman case."

"Why me?" Cameron looked puzzled.

"Superman case?" Lois asked at the same time, concerned.

"Because, Cameron," Jimmy explained, ignoring Lois, "I was you once."

"You were me, sir?"

"I was, and that's how I know you can handle it." Jimmy sighed and pulled him aside, looking pointedly at Lois, "Besides, she's got emotional attachments."

"Emotional attachments?" Lois and Cameron inquired at the same time.

"Emotional attachments." He nodded. "That's why when I tell you what happened to him, you're going to storm over to your desk, grab your coat, and run off to check on him." Lois glared at him expectantly until he finally said, "Superman was beaten up not too long ago at a bank robbery on Oneida Street."

Without stopping to think, Lois stormed over to her desk, but just as she was about to grab her coat, she stopped herself and left it, turning to look defiantly at Jimmy before she ran out into the crisp autumn air with just the thin sleeves of her work suit.


	3. Chapter 3

As Amelia watched her gym class play football from the sidelines, she was surprised to see the baseball players easily outplaying the football players, as the gym coach—who also happened to coach the baseball team—looked on proudly from the other end of the field. It struck Amelia as odd, but she didn't think much of it until later, when the class was heading for the locker rooms and one of the baseball players lagged behind to talk to coach. Curious, she turned just before leaving the gym and hid behind the bleachers. When it looked like no one was around, the coach handed the boy a pill bottle with pills that seemed to glow bright green. As she leaned in to take a closer look, she accidentally stepped on a discarded soda can, which crumpled under her feet and made them look over at her, but she was gone before they could see anything.

* * *

Later that day, one of the other baseball players that she knew handed her a beautiful Tiffany & co. necklace. "Oh my god, Josh, where did you get this?"

"It came as a prize in my cereal box." He joked, picking it up to put it on her, but she took a step back so he couldn't reach her. "Where do you think?"

Amelia blinked a few times in disbelief, then demanded, "Where did you get the money for something like this?"

"I just came into some money and I thought I'd get you something nice." He said, putting the necklace back down and boxing it back up for her. "I didn't think you'd get offended or anything."

"I'm not offended, it's just," Amelia pulled him into a side hallway so they could talk privately, "I know what your situation at home is, and if you really have enough money to spend on a beautiful Tiffany necklace, shouldn't you be buying food for your family instead."

"I've got it under control!" Josh practically screamed, ripping the box from her hands, "God! You're so frustrating sometimes! Why can't you just take the damn necklace and be happy?!"

"Josh, wait!" Amelia exclaimed as he tried to run off. He stopped and turned, but wouldn't come back, so she had to run to catch up with him. "There was something I wanted to warn you about. I think there's something going on with your coach and some of the players on your team, so if you think anyone's on steroids or—"

"Now you're nosing into my team, too!?" Josh steamed, "Just go away, Amelia! "Just stay out of my life!"

* * *

"Let me through! Let me through!" Lois shouted at the police officers barring entrance to the bank where Superman was lying, unconscious. "I'm a friend of Superman's! Let me through!"

"Yeah, and I'm Donald Duck." One of them rolled their eyes sarcastically. "I know who you are, Ms. Lane."

At the sound of her name, his superior officer looked up. "You're stupider than I thought." He said to the other officer, lifting up the tape in front of Lois, "I'm sorry, Ms. Lane. Please give Superman my regards."

"Thank you. I will." She glared at the man who had held her back before, "Should I tell him you said hello, Donald?" He just shook his head apologetically and let her pass.

As soon as she saw her husband unconscious on the floor, Lois melted at his side. "Oh, Superman!" She exclaimed, stroking his hair lightly. For a moment, he remained still, but slowly, he blinked his eyes open and looked up at her.

"Lois?" He questioned weakly.

"Oh, Clark!" She murmured softly in his ear, hugging him.

"It was the same guys," Superman told her, sitting up against one of the bank counters. "My powers…they didn't work."

"And you're sure it wasn't kryptonite?" Lois inquired gently.

"I don't know what to think anymore." Superman sighed, "I don't think I felt kryptonite, but I really can't be sure. Maybe I am getting to old for this."

"Superman," She stroked his hair affectionately, "You'll never be too old for this. People still need you. You can't give up on them now. Here," she moved out of his way and pointed to the counter he was leaning against. "Lift that up." He hesitated for a moment, then turned and lifted the heavy chunk of metal with little more than a pinky. "See? You're fine. What we should be worrying about is what those boys are going to do next." Lois looked around to make sure no one was watching, then gave Superman a quick kiss on the forehead and jumped on his lap. "Now, fly me home."

* * *

"Amelia!" Her father called upstairs to her as she researched different types of steroids on the internet, "Time for dinner!"

"Coming!" She called down, scanning the page she was working on one last time before she shut the computer and went downstairs with her family.

"So, kids," her father said once everyone was seated, "did you hear about those robberies in Metropolis that got past Superman?"

"No," Amelia looked up, intrigued, "what happened?"

"Well, it started yesterday…" he began, but Amelia cut him off.

"Yesterday?" her heart sank. Josh had been absent from school yesterday.

"Yes…" Her father exchanged an uneasy look with her mother, "why, what happened yesterday?"

"Nothing," Amelia shook her head, smiling reassuringly, "I'm sorry. Go on."

"Well, from what I can gather from the news, two robbers broke into a big, metropolis bank and Superman wasn't able to stop him." He explained. "Then today…"

"Today?" Amelia sighed, relieved.

"Yes…" He looked confused, but continued anyway, "This morning it happened again, and Superman was found unconscious."

"This morning?" Amelia's hopes were shattered once again. Josh had been late to school. "About what time?"

"Oh, I don't know," He shook his head, "just before they opened, I think. Maybe around eight-ish."

"Oh, thanks, dad." Amelia slumped into her seat and ate silently as they finished their dinner, then went up to bed for the rest of the night.

* * *

Quietly, under a big, unnecessary umbrella and with huge sunglass on, Amelia watched in shock as the baseball team hit homeruns almost every time and ran the bases faster than anyone she'd ever seen. Once she had seen what she needed to see, Amelia inched her way over to the player's dugout and took one of the gym bags under the bench. As the coach shouted at the players, she quickly rummaged through the bag until she found what she was looking for and ran with it.

The more she ran, the more sick she felt until finally she involuntarily slowed to a walk just before she got in her mother's car. "Amelia! Are you alright? You look terrible!"

"Thanks mom," She panted, turning greener by the second, "I'm fine. Just go." Normally, her mother would challenge Amelia about talking to her in that tone, but since Amelia clearly wasn't well, she decided to just let it go.

Originally, Amelia was going to take the pills up to the school to look at them under a microscope, but as soon as she got close to it, she knew exactly what it was. There was only one mineral that she was that allergic to; Kryptonite.


	4. Chapter 4

Now that Amelia had the who, what, and why taken care of, the next logical step was the how, but instead, she found herself trying to decide whether or not to tell the police. The obvious answer would be yes because what they were doing was obviously illegal, but how could she bring herself to incriminate some of her friends over something like steroids. Surely, most of the teams in the league were using steroids from what she'd seen, so how could she bring herself to tell on the one who had simply managed to find the best solution.

The more she thought, the more her already throbbing head hurt, until eventually she decided to start her homework, but she changed her mind again when the envelope internship at the Daily Planet fell out of her bag.

* * *

Lois and Clark's case seemed to be getting nowhere, so after a bit of convincing, Lois finally got Clark to agree to stay home for a few days as she went out to interview a few suspects.

Surprisingly, when Lois arrived at Mr. Solomon's address, she found a brightly colored pet shop. "Great," She muttered sarcastically under her breath as she went in to find him. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a Mr. Gregory Solomon."

"That would be me." A smiling, older gentleman that seemed to be bottle-feeding a puppy behind the counter said happily.

"My name is Lois Lane." She introduced herself unsurely, "I'm a reporter from the Daily Planet."

"Ah, yes." He put down the bottle and gently eased the small, golden retriever puppy back into it's cage. "I've read your work. Great article a few weeks back on illegal chemical testing by big pharmaceutical companies on animals."

"Oh, thank you," Lois shook her head, remembering, then continued, "I was actually here to talk to you about a case I'm working on about Superman."

"Superman?" Mr. Solomon looked confused, "I don't know what you'd want to talk to me about. I don't know much more about Superman than anyone else you could find on the street."

"Well I don't know about that." Lois smiled up at him charmingly, "What about those years in Green Hills with James Cherney? You must have picked something up while you where there."

"Yes, I suppose I did." He replied sadly. "But, luckily, I'm in a different place now than I was then and I've realized that most of what he was trying to tell me was just the ravings of a mad man."

"And what exactly brought about this epiphany?" Lois inquired skeptically.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." He sighed, recalling what happened, "You see, about a month after I was released from prision, I was speeding through a residential area and before I knew what happened, a little puppy not much bigger than Max here," Gregory Solomon indicated towards the puppy he had been feeding earlier, "ran right out into the road and I smashed into him. That's when I realized that I was doing something wrong with my life."

"I see." Lois frowned. "And Mr. Cherney didn't give you anything while you were cell mates? He didn't tell you anything that could be helpful in catching the person responsible for the recent rash of bank robberies?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but I can't help you with anything like that." As he spoke, he took a box of food out from behind the counter and used it to feed one of the bunnies nearby. "I can help you find the perfect pet for your family, however. Do you have any kids?"

"I really don't think a pet would be the best thing for my husband and I," She smiled apologetically at him as she backed towards the exit of the store, "We're very dedicated to are work and really don't have the time to give a lot of attention to a small animal."

"Oh, sure you do." He grinned, following her towards the door. "And I'm sure the kids'll help with the attention. All you'll have to do is make sure they're fed."

"I have to go." Lois practically ran out of the store and down the street to hail a cab.

* * *

"Clark, maybe you should stay away from those robberies." Lois suggested when she got home.

"Lois, you know I can't just let things like that go." Clark reasoned with his wife. "Millions of dollars are being stolen and if there's anything I can do about it, I have to do it. Why? What did that man say to you?"

"It's not you I'm worried about anymore its—" Lois stopped and rephrased what she was going to say. "He kept on mentioning kids. 'Do you have kids?' 'Oh, don't worry about that, the kids will take care of it.' 'Kids, kids, kids, kids, kids.' Maybe he was threatening me."

"Or maybe he was just trying to carry on a conversation with you." Clark said, holding out his arms. Slowly, she sat next to him and let him comfort her. "We've done everything we could, but we can't get paranoid. If it was a threat, he probably would have been more direct, so all we can do is just keep doing our jobs. We have responsibilities, and not just to them."

"I know, Clark," She sighed, "It's just so hard sometimes!"

"I know," He lightly kissed the top of her head, "I know."

* * *

"Lois! CK! Where have you two been?" Jimmy yelled across the newsroom when he saw the pair come out of the elevator.

"I've been interviewing sources for the past few days and Clark's been sick, Jimmy." Lois replied. "What've we missed?"

"Well, I finally found a story I liked from one of the intern applicants." Jimmy grinned handing them the front page of the paper he was about to send out. "Now, she's pretty young, but the heart in this girl is unbelievable. Just look at the story this girl cranked out after just finding about this yesterday."

"'Kryptonite Steroids make Bank Robbers Unstoppable'" Lois read aloud, "So, that's why Superman couldn't stop them? They were taking Kryptonite pills?"

"From Coach John Solomon" Clark pointed the part of the article out to his wife, "Gregory Solomon's brother."

"And here she is now," Jimmy said, running to grab a tan, raven-haired girl no older than fifteen, "Amelia! Over here!"

The girl turned and Lois thought she might faint. As Jimmy led her over to his prize reporters, Lois had to grab Clark's arm for support. "This is Amelia Smith." Jimmy introduced her, "And these are my two top reporters, Lois Lane and Clark Kent."

"You two look familiar, have we met before?" Amelia asked as she shook each of their hands in turn. Without realizing it, Clark accidentally shook her hand a little too firmly, but she didn't even notice.

"Um, well," Lois and Clark mumbled, gawking at her with wide eyes. Finally, Lois recovered. "Great story. How did you know they were taking Kryptonite Steroids?"

"Well, I didn't at first." Amelia explained, grinning proudly, "But I found some in one of their bags and I knew right away what they were."

"And how's that?" Jimmy asked excitedly, already knowing the answer.

"Well, I'm allergic to Kryptonite." She replied simply.

"She's allergic to Kryptonoite!" Jimmy clapped happily, "Can you believe it!? What're the odds!?"

"Allergic to Kryptonite." Lois looked up at her husband as she spoke, "Imagine that."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you so much to my reviewers! You don't know just how much you make my day with just a few kind words! Thank you!**

Ching-Ma watched intently as his son, Con-El, delegated between two nobles in their family's court. "I realize that the marriage between your son and Lord Ni's daughter is very important in resolving the conflict between your houses, but you must be aware of the law prohibiting arranged marriages without both the bride and the groom's explicit consent, of which you have neither. There must be better ways of organizing a treaty than exchanging children, which would do nothing more than putting two young Kryptonians in the middle of a volatile situation before they've gotten a chance to start their lives. Perhaps you can try a written treaty of some sort. It won't solve all the problems between your families, but it could be a great start on the path to recovery. Now, if you'll excuse me, my father and I have a few urgent matters to discuss in regards to the rebellion in Jorack."

"Very nicely handled, my son," Ching smiled broadly as they walked away, "Your mother would be very proud."

"You say that as if you're not going to tell her every detail the moment we sit down for dinner." The young man grinned back at his father.

"Oh, Connor, is it wrong for a father to be proud of his son?" Ching asked, putting his arm around Connor as they walked back through the halls to their quarters.

* * *

Once everyone had met Amelia and she was busily organizing her new desk, Lois and Clark were ready to get back to work. Just as they sat down, however, Clark suddenly heard a woman screaming a few blocks away. "Oh, honey, I've got to go." He said to Lois, loosening his tie.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Amelia asked suddenly. "It sounds like someone's screaming."

Clark stopped and looked at his wife anxiously, but she urged him towards the door. "Go," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek, "I'll take care of it." As he ran to the stairwell, Lois turned to Amelia, "Maybe it was just my computer beeping or something. It has been known to make some weird noises."

"Maybe." Amelia sighed and went back to her work. "I don't know. It was probably just my imagination."

"You hear people screaming often?" Marie, the advice columnist with a psychology degree butted into the conversation.

Amelia shrugged and kept working, trying to end the conversation. "My shrink said it's to be expected, but there's not much I can do about it, so I just live a normal life and eventually, it should go away."

Before anyone else could say anything, Lois cut in protectively, "Shrink? Why would you need a shrink?"

"Well, seven years ago, I was rescued…"

"Rescued!?" Lois interrupted.

"…by my parents…." Amelia gave Lois a funny look as she continued, but was still cut off again.

"Parents!?"

"Lois!" Marie exclaimed finally, "Let the girl talk!" Turning back to Amelia, she said comfortingly, "I'm sorry, honey, you were saying?"

"It's not a big deal, really." Amelia blushed uncomfortably, "I don't even remember what happened."

"It's alright, you can tell me," Marie murmured soothingly, "I won't judge, I promise."

"God, you sound like my shrink," Amelia scoffed, then turned to talk to Lois, "When I was ten, I was kidnapped. It's not a big deal, really, I was only gone a week or so, then my dad finally found me in an old abandoned factory building."

"Dad?" Lois questioned, a little more quietly this time.

"Yeah," Amelia stared at her desk blankly, remembering. "It's funny, he seemed so unfamiliar when I saw him." Suddenly, she looked up to explain, "I had amnesia. I still can't even remember anything before the day he saved me." Suddenly, Clark blew in while no one was looking, then casually walked up and gave his wife a cup of coffee, kissing her on the cheek. "I'd better get back to putting my stuff away."

As Amelia went back to packing her things, Lois and Clark headed back to their desks. "Mmm, you smell.." Lois paused, leaning into him to sniff, "…floral."

"Yeah," Clark chuckled at his wife, "I just saved a woman who was being mugged outside a flower shop."

"Mmm," Lois took one last quick sniff, then straightened to tell Clark what happened while she was gone. "So, Amelia told a very interesting story while you were out saving the world and everything."

"Oh, yeah?" Clark asked intently.

"Apparently, when she was ten, she was kidnapped and held for a few weeks… until she was rescued by her father."

"Father?" Clark looked confused.

"Yup, her father, whom she didn't even recognize because she had such a bad case of amnesia." Lois explained. Clark sighed, understanding.

* * *

A few hours later, Amelia was clearly packing up to go, so Lois walked over to her husband's desk as casually as possible. "I've checked the missing person's records and no one by the name of 'Amelia Smith' has gone missing in the past ten years."

"So, what are we saying?" Clark asked.

Lois leaned in to say quietly, "We're saying that there is a very good possibility that this is…"

"Wait!" Clark interrupted her, leaning back in his chair. "Don't say it. Don't even think it. You remember what happened last time!"

"But Clark!" She whined, "That was three years ago! And what if it _is_ her!? She's allergic to Kryptonite! What if it _is_—"

"Lois!"

"Oh! She's leaving, Clark!" Lois watched attentively as Amelia picked up her coat and purse. "Follow her!"

"What!?" Clark questioned, surprised that his wife would even suggest it.

"Oh, you heard me!" She rolled her eyes at him. "Follow her! See where she goes! It can't hurt to just check."

"Fine." He said reluctantly, giving her a quick peck on the lips as he loosened his tie.

"I'll meet you at home!" Lois called after him.

* * *

After just ten minutes, Clark returned to the office in his suit and tie. "What are you doing here?" Lois demanded, pulling him over to a corner, "I thought you were going to meet me at home. Didn't you follow her?"

"Yup, to a beautiful little house just outside the city." Clark replied, knowing she would pry for more information.

"Clark, following someone typically means more than just seeing where they go." Lois told him angrily.

"Lois, there was nothing else I could do." He explained, "The whole house was coated in lead based paint, which is why I must not have noticed before. But it's the whole house. The ceilings. The floors. The walls. Some older houses have a couple rooms with lead based paint, so I just overlooked it, but when I followed her home, I realized that this house was built within the past ten years."

"So they're hiding something." Lois grinned in spite of herself.

Clark nodded, "And, when I got close to try to listen in on what they were saying, I felt sick. Amelia must have gotten used to it so that she just thinks she has some kind of condition or something, but there are definitely trace elements of kryptonite scattered throughout that house. Not much, but just enough so that I couldn't use my powers and I felt a bit lightheaded."

"And you're sure." Lois stated. Clark merely nodded again, so she continued, "Then I think we'd better pay our new intern a visit at home."


	6. Chapter 6

"Lois?!" The tall woman with flaming red hair questioned nervously when she opened the door.

"Karen?!" Lois replied with equal surprise as she looked into the eyes of her old friend and neighbor.

"Wow." Karen sighed, seemingly lost for words as she composed herself. "It's been a long time."

"Yeah," Lois smiled fakely, "It has."

"Mom?" Amelia called from inside the house. "Who is it?"

"Oh, no one, honey," The woman at the door yelled down a nearby staircase. "Just stay down there and keep doing your homework." Turning back to her guests, she shifted uncomfortably, "Kids these days. They'll use just about any excuse to get out of doing their homework. Would you like to come in for a drink or something?"

"We wouldn't know." Lois stated blankly just before Clark was able to cut her off.

"We'd love to."

The woman wasn't able to hide the sarcasm as she spoke, "Great."

"Lois? Clark?" Amelia asked, coming up the basement stairs, "What are you doing here? Is there a big story or something?"

"Yes."

"No." They replied with contradicting answers at the same time.

"What we mean is," Lois covered for them quickly, "We do have a big story, but that's not why we're here."

"_These_ are the 'great reporters' that you were so excited to work with?" Karen looked disgusted.

"Mo-om!" Amelia glared at her mother, stretching the word into two syllables.

Clark swiftly took his wife's hand as he said, "We were actually wondering if you could come join us for dinner sometime. That way we could get to know you a little before we jump right into the work."

Karen's eyes narrowed, "Maybe that's not such a good idea."

"Mom!" Amelia exclaimed, "It's a great idea! I'd love to!"

"I don't know…" She began, but was interrupted by her daughter.

"Mom, can I talk to you in the other room for a minute?"

Amelia forcefully grabbed her mother's arm to pull her into the kitchen, but the woman yelped in pain, so Amelia let go to give herself a second to calm down before she led Karen through the swinging door. Watching this exchange, Lois and Clark exchanged a quick look of mutual understanding, then Clark focused on the door so he could see and hear what was going on.

"Mother," He heard Amelia try to reason with her, "Please don't screw this up for me. Lois Lane and Clark Kent are by far the best reporters in the city. This is an unbelievable opportunity."

The woman rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, " I just don't think they're as big of saints as you make them out to be."

"Oh, come on." She glared at her mother, "After all they've been through in the past ten years, they've still managed 10 Kerth awards and a Pulitzer. They're the best journalists in the world and you know it as well as I do."

Karen Smith paused, considering what to do next, "Fine. You can work with them."

"Oh, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, mommy!" Amelia squealed in excitement as she hugged her mother gratefully.

"But that doesn't mean I have to like it." Clark barely heard her mumble under her breath.

* * *

"That's wonderful, Connor!" Zara exclaimed with more enthusiasm than should have been normal for her race. "I'm glad you've learned to diplomatically resolve conflicts between your people and diffuse volatile situations with little more than a bit of kind advice. I'm very proud of you. As your parents will be as well, I'm sure."

"My parents?" Con-El questioned suddenly, looking up.

"Yes," Ching intervened, explaining for his wife. "Your mother and I have decided it's long past time you visit your parents. Now that you're a full-grown Kryptonian, there's really no reason why you should run into any problems on their home planet of earth that you can't resolve on your own. Even in the off chance that something does come up, you'll have three additional Kryptonians who are ready and willing to defend you to the death, not to mention countless other bodyguards that we can have at your beck and call whenever their services are required."

"Do they know we're coming?"

Ching and Zara exchanged a fleeting worried look, then were back to normal and Zara continued, "We have no way of communicating with them until the ship gets close enough to earth for telepathic communication with your father, but until then, no, they have no idea we're coming. We have no choice but to make it a surprise, of sorts."

"A good surprise, of course." Ching interjected when he saw the worried look on his son's face, "I'm sure they'll be happy to see you, especially after all this time."

Connor did his best to pick his face up, but they knew him well enough to see that he wasn't as pleased as they'd like him to be. After a few moments of silence, Zara spoke. "What is it son? You should be overjoyed to see your parents and your home again, but we can see that this clearly is not the case."

"It's just…" Connor hesitated, "What if they don't like who I am? Who I've become? They live their lives on Earth trying to preach a message of love and truth, but I feel myself becoming more Kryptonian each day. I'm loosing the passion that is characteristic of Earth men and women and I feel I've forgotten much of what they've taught me of love and compassion."

"My son, you are the most compassionate man we know." Ching smiled at him, "Your presence alone here on New Krypton has made it a better place to be. If you feel we've taken something from you during your stay here, I sincerely apologize, because you have given us so much."

"More than you could know." Zara agreed.

* * *

"So, it's decided, then," Lois said, standing up and making her way towards the door as her husband followed closely behind. "Tomorrow night, Amelia is coming home with us from the planet for dinner. I can't promise anything fantastic, but it will be food."

"Uh, Lois," Karen stopped her just before she walked out the door, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." Lois waited patiently for Karen to continue, but she didn't say anything.

"Alone?" Karen pulled Lois down into the basement, leaving Clark and Amelia upstairs, and shut the door behind them. Once they were completely alone, Karen began again, "I know you know about Amelia."

"Know?" Lois questioned, playing dumb and wishing more than anything else that Clark could somehow hear through the lead door.

"Don't play dumb with me," The menacing redhead glared at her, calling her bluff, "but before you can do anything about it, I want to make it perfectly clear to you that I know all about her father."


	7. Chapter 7

"Y-you what?" Lois stuttered.

"You heard me." Karen stated angrily, "I know all about Amelia's father, and quite frankly, it disgusts me."

"Well," Lois straightened up a bit, preparing to defend her husband, "after all he does for the world, don't you think he deserves a bit of happiness?"

"Oh, I understand that part," Karen rolled her eyes and Lois began to look confused, "That's not the problem. The problem is the person he chose. And you! I can't believe you would cheat on Clark. He adores you!"

"What?" Lois asked, completely bewildered.

"You had an affair with Superman." Karen said, "When I saw it in the papers all those years ago, I didn't believe it, but after all the things I've seen Amelia do, there's just no way to explain it."

"Oh!" Lois exclaimed, "Right! Well, you're right! I've seen the error of my ways. I'll never cheat on my husband again." Karen hesitated, not sure whether or not to believe her. "Promise!"

"Well, alright, I suppose." Karen muttered, opening the door to let her leave.

"Thank you." Lois quickly ushered her husband out the door as he gave her a confused look. "We'll see you tomorrow, Amelia!"

* * *

"Lois, Clark!" Jimmy called from across the newsroom floor. "I want you two working with Amelia on a follow up to the bank robbery story."

"We'll start right after we finish this piece on the illegal fight clubs downtown." Clark yelled back, turning the corner to his wife's desk.

"Got that Amelia?" Jimmy asked the young girl as she strolled out of the elevator. "Follow up on the robbery with Lois and Clark."

"Got it!" She chirped back, skipping over to Lois' desk. "So, what's up, guys?"

"Just finishing up this story." Lois nodded towards her computer, "How was school?"

"Weird." Amelia thought aloud, "I just can't look at the school the same way now that I know what happened there."

"You'll get used to it," Clark smiled, then suddenly looked up, hearing a voice.

"Kal-El," Zara's voice echoed in his head.

"What are you hearing?" Lois murmered into his ear so that only he could hear.

"Shh." He hushed her.

"What is that? Who is Kal-El?" Amelia asked just before Lois rushed over to quiet her.

"I'm here." Clark thought back to Zara.

"This is Zara-Ma, Ching-Ma and Con-El."

"Connor?" Clark inquired excitedly.

"I'm here, dad."

"It's Connor!" Clark told his wife excitedly.

"We're just about to drop down on Earth and thought we'd let you know we're coming first." The excitement in Connor's voice was hard to conceal. "Can we meet you at the Planet?"

"Yes! We're here!" Clark clutched his wife's arm anxiously.

"Ouch! Clark!" Lois exclaimed, trying in vein to free herself from his grasp.

"Oh, sorry." Clark apologized, releasing her. "Connor is on his way!"

"Does he know?" Lois asked in a low voice so only he could hear.

"How could he?" Clark questioned, suddenly alarmed.

"Amelia!" Lois called, grabbing a piece of paper off her desk, "Could you do me a huge favor run this down to copy? I would ask Cameron, but I think he's running an errand for Jimmy."

"Yeah, no problem." Amelia began, then paused, "Is this your electric bill?"

"Yeah," Lois tried to explain, "I'm thinking of running a story on rising costs of living in the city."

Amelia just shrugged and left. Turning down the hallway just as Connor stepped excitedly out of the elevator. "Connor!" Lois exclaimed, kicking off her high-heeled shoes to sprint towards her son and leap into his open arms. For a moment, she just held him, then stepped back and wiped a tear from her cheek to let her husband embrace their son.

"We missed you, Connor." Clark said, squeezing his son harder than he could squeeze any normal man.

"I missed you too, dad." Connor held his father just as tightly. After a few moments, Connor and Clark finally released each other. "So, any leads on…"

"Actually," Lois practically whispered, knowing her husband and son could hear her no matter how quietly she spoke. "We found her. She's working as an intern here at the planet."

"That's great! When can I see her? I've missed her!"

"Well, actually, in just a few seconds because she's coming around the corner right now, but you have to pretend you don't know her." Lois said even quieter, "She doesn't know who she is and her fake mother is keeping us from telling anyone."

"Wouldn't it be a little obvious when she started flying?" Connor inquired into his mother's ear, evoking a soft, quick elbow to his arm as Amelia approached.

"Amelia!" Clark greeted her warmly, "We'd like you to meet our son, Connor. He just got back from…"

"MIT," Connor interjected, "But it's funny. I've heard so much about you, it's almost like I know you already. We might as well be family." Smiling brilliantly, he opened his arms to hug her. A little awkwardly, she stepped into him and hugged him back, barely flinching when he tightened his grip.

"Oh, no, Connor." Lois glared at him. "You must be thinking of our last intern, _Angela_. Amelia just started working here yesterday."

Connor hesitated, then agreed with her, finally releasing Amelia, "Oh! Right. I'm sorry, _Amelia_."

"It's alright." Amelia muttered, stepping back, "It's nice to meet you anyways."

Uncomfortably, Amelia walked back over to her desk. As soon as she was out of earshot, Connor turned his back on her and ushered his parents in to the conference room to talk to them privately. "It's definitely her. I squeezed as hard as I could and she didn't even notice."

"Well, we figured that part out when she told us she was 'allergic to kryptonite'." Lois told him, "The problem is, _that woman_ knows who her father is. Of course, she's too bullheaded to figure out the truth, so she thinks I just had an affair with Superman, but we still can't do anything too drastic when she knows Amelia's secret. Do you know what the worst part is? It's _Karen Smith_. _Karen Smith!_ I knew her! I let you play at her house!"

"Honey, calm down," Clark soothed, rubbing her arm gently, "And don't forget, you were fooled for two years by a pair of glasses."

"Fine," Lois grudgingly agreed, "but that doesn't mean I have to like her."

"Should I go talk to her?" Connor asked, thinking, "Maybe I can figure something out. I'm getting pretty good at this diplomat stuff."

"No," Lois smiled proudly and gave her son a big hug as she spoke, "I think we'd better just wait it out for now. There are just too many variables at the moment."

Suddenly, both Connor and Clark looked up at the same time, hearing people screaming. "I've got to—" they both said at the same time.

"You get it." Clark patted his son proudly on the back, as Connor ran out to the stairwell, leaving his beaming parents back in the conference room.

* * *

"Con-El," A big, gruff-looking man's voice boomed as he flew stories above a crowded street, holding a little girl by the waist like a rag doll, seemingly unfazed by her terror as she screamed and cried. "I am Chi-So of the house of So requesting that you hear the demands of my people regarding the Independence movement in Jorack."


End file.
